Live DC: SSION @ 9:30 Club

For most of the shows I cover for BYT, there is an expectation, at least on my end, that I know something about the artist. On the face of it, that may suck some of the joy of experiencing “the new” or “unexpected,” but to me it adds a foundation; something I can point to and compare to my own expectations. In the case of SSION (pronounced Shun), a multimedia alt-pop project of musician, filmmaker, and visual artist Cody Critcheloe, I had zero to go on. I entered a semi-empty 9:30 Club with nothing more than a quick scroll through a haphazard Google search suggesting Pitchfork album reviews and New York Times and Vogue profiles of Critcheloe.

To understand SSION, you first need to understand Cody Critcheloe. Over the past decade, Critcheloe has been a leading proponent of expanding the spirit of queercore, a “30-year-old music and art movement that draws on the outsider perspective of the L.G.B.T. experience to both reclaim and redefine the early fury and independence of punk” (thank you, New York Times). Since founding SSION in the early 2000’s, Critcheloe has traversed the vibrancy of that perspective incorporating allusions of every element of sound imaginable from Liza Minnelli to the Pet Shop Boys. Listening to his most recent album (and the first in seven years), 2018’s O, it struck me how disjointedly liberating Critcheloe sounded. Critcheloe’s music is sonic independence and a statement of intent for a community with a voice unlike any other.

I had read before the show that SSION’s live shows were spectacles, pulsing with energy and attitude. Walking into the venue, I had to remind myself that any show scheduled on Halloween would face a fight for attendance. It’s always mildly uncomfortable to watch an artist—especially one with a rich backstory like Critcheloe—perform in a expansive open space with few onlookers; the sound carries, the transitions between songs more jagged, and thought that the artist must be looking out and thinking “really?” are constants. Despite all that, SSION delivered a performance existing in its own reality; a reality probably mirroring the set SSION performed at Jeremy Scott’s after-party on February 8, 2018. Critcheloe floated around the stage with undeniable swagger, coaxing each song with subtle movements of sexual deviance, sauntry unconformity, and undying adherence to either. SSION’s music is rambunctious to say the least; distorted bass flows through every expression, creating a soundscape that feels like the unofficial third member of the group.

Towards the end of the set, Critcheloe jumped off the stage and entered the crowd, which by that point had grown enough as to not make it seem like Critcheloe was simply jumping from one empty stage to another. As he jumped around a loosely formed dance circle, Critcheloe slowly pulled an unassuming audience into his stratosphere, like a hype man trying desperately to butter up a crowd. It was the last hurrah of an artist completely ensconced in his lane—a lane not necessarily for me, but a major necessity in music.

Violent Femmes 10th studio album, HOTEL LAST RESORT, resides among the groundbreaking band’s finest work, simultaneously refining and redefining their one-of-a-kind take on American music, mingling front porch folk, post punk, spiritual jazz, country blues, avant garde minimalism and golden age rock ‘n’ roll into something still altogether their own. Founded and fronted of course by singer/guitarist Gordon Gano and acoustic bass guitarist Brian Ritchie, the Milwaukee-born combo remains as warm, wise and weird as ever before, with such new favorites as “Another Chorus” and “Everlasting You” continuing to mine the vast range of ideas, melodic complexity and organic sonic craftsmanship that has characterized the band’s body of work since their landmark self-titled 1983 debut.

Formed in 1977, X quickly established themselves as one of the best bands in the first wave of LA’s flourishing punk scene; becoming legendary leaders of a punk generation. Featuring vocalist Exene Cervenka, vocalist/bassist John Doe, guitarist Billy Zoom, and drummer DJ Bonebrake, their debut 45 was released on the seminal Dangerhouse label in 1978, followed by seven studio albums released from 1980-1993. Over the years, the band has released several critically acclaimed albums, topped the musical charts with regularity and performed their iconic hits on top television shows such as Letterman and American Bandstand. X’s first two studio albums, Los Angeles and Wild Gift are ranked by Rolling Stone among the top 500 greatest albums of all time. The band continues to tour with the original line-up fully intact. In 2017, the band celebrated their 40th yearanniversary in music with a Grammy Museum exhibit opening, a Proclamation from the City of Los Angeles and being honored at a Los Angeles Dodgers game where Exene threw out the first pitch and John Doe sang the National Anthem. In 2020, X celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Los Angeles.

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Today NYC-via-Seoul electronic producer, DJ, and vocalist Yaeji has announced the release of a new mixtape titled WHAT WE DREW 우리가 그려왔던, due out April 2 on XL Recordings. To

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Today NYC-via-Seoul electronic producer, DJ, and vocalist Yaeji has announced the release of a new mixtape titled WHAT WE DREW 우리가 그려왔던, due out April 2 on XL Recordings. To introduce the new project, her first full-length mixtape and release on XL, Yaeji has shared a new animated music video for the lead single “WAKING UP DOWN.” It’s also been announced that this Summer Yaeji will perform live across North America and Europe in which she’ll debut an all-new live show featuring dancers, original choreography and new stage production.

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slowthai knew the title of his album long before he wrote a single bar of it. He knew he wanted the record to speak candidly about his upbringing on the

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slowthai knew the title of his album long before he wrote a single bar of it. He knew he wanted the record to speak candidly about his upbringing on the council estates of Northampton, and for it to advocate for community in a country increasingly mired in fear and insularity. Three years since the phrase first appeared in his breakout track ‘Jiggle’, Tyron Frampton presents his incendiary debut ‘Nothing Great About Britain’.

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Ed O’Brien never planned to make a solo record. As guitarist with Radiohead, who over almost three decades and nine albums have established themselves as one of the most innovative

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Ed O’Brien never planned to make a solo record. As guitarist with Radiohead, who over almost three decades and nine albums have established themselves as one of the most innovative and influential musical forces of our time, he thought his artistic side had its outlet and was happy to spend any downtime from Radiohead with his family. Plus, he wondered, would it really be necessary? “Thom, Jonny and Phillip are making music,” he says, “and I’m like, ‘The last thing the world needs is a shit album by me.’”

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Growing up in suburban New Jersey, 23-year-old singer, songwriter and producer Jeremy Zucker has always been surrounded by music. In 2015, he released his first EP as a freshman at

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Growing up in suburban New Jersey, 23-year-old singer, songwriter and producer Jeremy Zucker has always been surrounded by music. In 2015, he released his first EP as a freshman at Colorado College pursuing a degree in Molecular Biology, and by 2017 he had signed a major label record deal with Republic Records. Since then, he has released 4 EP’s with breakthrough singles such as “talk is overrated” featuring blackbear, “all the kids are depressed,” and his biggest song to date, the Gold-Certified hit “comethru”. Overall, Zucker has already crossed over a staggering 1 billion total streams on his catalogue as he gears up for his debut album, coming early 2020.